Mapping Terabithia
I have always been really interested in children's books... even took a class on them in college. I've always had a special fondness for Katherine Paterson's Bridge to Terabithia.
I've known for a while that Disney was planning to make a movie version of the book. (It was only a matter of time.) I watched the trailer today and I'm disheartened to see that they made it look like an action movie.
If you don't know the book, it's largely about a young boy and girl who become friends and create their imaginary kingdom ("Terabithia") in the woods. That was one of the beauties of the book: imagination. So what happens when Disney tells kids what Terabithia looks like? The movie seems to be more about effects and computer generated ogres than about the power of imagination as an escape.
I can no longer imagine Stuart Little as anything but a CG rat. Fern from Charlotte's Web is Dakota Fanning in my head. Our research shows that kids seek opportunities to exercise their imaginations-- are we robbing them of the chance, when we take away their Terabithia?
2 Comments:
I agree; I can understand the allure of a movie about this book, but that doesn't mean it necessarily should be made. It's great that a movie can sometimes inspire kids to read the book, but it makes me sad that any kid who does this will see the book as it was presented in the movie, instead of getting to choose their own view. It almost seems contradictory that Bridge to Terabithia, a book that focuses very strongly on the power of the imagination, would be turned into a movie, which could pigeonhole the way kids imagine the book.
December 01, 2006
Bridge to Terabithia is one of the post powerful books I ever read. Somehow I think that Disney won't be including the. . .important. . .part with Leslie, based on the preview I saw. (I don't want to spoil the book for anyone who hasn't read it.) Two stories I've read in my life have made me cry. Two. The first was Bridge to Terabitia, the second was "The Scarlet Ibis." I started being a lot nicer to my brother after I read "The Scarlet Ibis," actually. But needless to say, I'm dismayed at what I've seen of the new movie. Downright furious, actually. Sorry to get rant all over you.
January 31, 2007
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